AlexJReid

Problem: No bass when driving (sounds OK when not moving) and very tinny sound with little mid range. Fronts sound out of phase, even after trying every combination. Uncomfortable to listen to if that makes sense.

Current setup: Sony MDX-790 (Jap head unit), Alpine SXE-1725S fronts, unknown Sony rears

Music: Rock, Northern soul, house

I would rather spend money on other parts of the car so I'm wondering what the best upgrade on an absolute shoe string would be?

Better head unit? Component fronts? Small amp to power fronts?

scooby51

i'm guessing you have played with the fader and gain controls on the headunit?
Does it have a phase shift on one of the menu's (where it reverses the polarity to the speakers from the head unit)?

Have the crossover levels on the headunit been set to far apart??

With regards to the sound, make sure the speakers are tight in the doors (all screws) and invest in some sound deadening for the door skins. Makes a hell of a difference to the sound.

Personally, my first choice would be to replace the headunit, and then to either add some tweeters or get some components.

Either way, Alex, good luck and let us know how you get on

Rustle73

Hi Alex. Scooby51's on the right rack initially to try and sort out the poor sound. I would recommend replacing your speaker cable to the fronts if not done already - the standard wiring is poor. Your front speakers aren't the flashest at approx £18 - £25 new (no offence intended), but their spec states they should deliver some half way decent sound. The fronts deliver the majority of the sound stage, so are the most important. You can probably leave your rears alone.

From personal experience you can upgrade the fronts to Infinity 6010CS components for reasonable money - list at £70 normally, but expect to pay around £40 on sale / online. That said, when I did mine the bass wasn't exactly super low, especially when the noise levels get up during driving, but the sound is very nice - not audiophile stuff but much nicer than stock; a good first step. I put in a small underseat sub for approx £110 which sorted the bass out.

Hope this helps, all the best.

cpk

I have the exact same problem.

Infinity reference 5010cs in the front and some infinity 4" coaxial in the rear doors.

When the car's not moving sound is deep and rich. When it is moving it's tinny and harsh! I've tried reversing polarity etc. if I put a multi-meter to the speaker cable will it tell me which is +ve and -ve rather than me guessing and finding out I've got it wrong!?

I've got dynamat on the door panels too......

Stock headunit though.

GaryCat

You lose a lot of bass in the road noise when moving. Try an underseat active sub to boost it to listenable levels.

scooby51

I've over come the bass problem

view my scooby to find out what i mean!!!

(a bit excessive for some tastes but cancels out all road noise)

AlexJReid

Thanks for the input everyone!

The polarity shift thing on a the head unit would be a great feature as I got fed up taking the door cards off. I don't think the HU does that, it's not a very high end one.

I know the front Alpines aren't great - got them as a temporary solution to replace the original Sonys that had disintergrated. Got ripped off by Halfords - paid £40 for them, then saw they were about £25 online. D'oh.

The cabling is a mess - a bit of even crappier cable has been scotchlocked (!) onto the factory wiring to the speaker. Can't help matters.

I'm worried about how damp the fronts seem to be getting as well. I don't want to put some better ones in only for them to get ruined by rain water.

How easy is it to run new cable into the doors?

Rustle73

Running new cable was quite easy. Run cable behind carpet to the far side of each footwell. Remove the plastic cill covers. This also removes a shround that sits on the inside of the car where your ankles would be. There is a hole there which runs to the outside of the car, behind the hinge. Put a hole in tis with a screwdriver and feed the cable through, and the hard part is done.

I did this on the passengers side first, but by passed it on the drivers side as I couldn't get clean access into the bung due to the presence of much more wiring in the hole, and my fear of doing some damage. For the drivers side I ran the cable under the carpet back to where the shroud clips in, run it up through the top of the shroud and then follow the hinge across to the door card. its not as tidy, but its notthat bad once the door card is on. i've got a photo but aren't allowed to post attachments.